Isaiah 49:4 But I said, “I have labored in vain;
    I have spent my strength for nothing at all.
Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand,
    and my reward is with my God.”

It is in a way very comforting to find this verse in the middle of a section with marvelous promises from God. Every church worker, and certainly every missionary, experiences times of discouragement. “What am I doing here? What good is all this accomplishing?” However, Isaiah, perhaps channeling Jesus Himself, follows that up correctly, with trust in God to make it all right. Discouragement doesn’t disqualify us! I keep coming back to the reality that we see only a tiny slice of time, whereas God sees everything, from the moment of Creation to the end of everything. As this verse says, it doesn’t matter if we can’t see any results from our labors, if God sees that there will be fruit down the line, perhaps after we’re long gone. That’s where faith comes in. As it says in Hebrews, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1) It’s that “do not see” part that gets us! We want to see results, feedback that makes it all worth it. True faith is trusting that God will bring the fruit even if we never see it. I have long been comforted by the story of the rural North Carolina evangelist who only had one person come forward after he had poured his heart out in a series of meetings. He felt like a failure, but that one person who responded was Billy Graham. Had that evangelist not been faithful, how many millions of people would have been deprived of the Gospel? We need to have enough faith to be at peace with not seeing the results down the road, rather trusting that God will use it all for good, and His glory. (Romans 8:28) We need to remember what Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers: “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58) Such encouragement has been necessary throughout history!

I have definitely had my times of discouragement, and I will probably have more before the Lord takes me home. I’m preaching to myself here! It will be 44 years next month since I arrived in Omura, and the results haven’t been what I envisioned. However, people have been touched, and lives have been changed. I honestly have no idea how many, but God knows perfectly. I have no idea how people to whom I’ve ministered will go on to minister to others, and I have no idea how many people, as they were dying, cried out to the God they had heard of from me. I’ve got to leave that in God’s hands. One feature of the gallery shows we’ve been doing for the past 16 years has been the people who show up, not so much to see what we are exhibiting, but to see us. Most of those have not publicly committed themselves to Christ, but we can at least see that they are drawn. We need to take encouragement from that, and continue to pray for them. Faithfulness is what is required, and faithfulness will be rewarded.

Father, thank You for what You have done through us over the years, and what You are doing even now. Thank You for the people who showed up yesterday, for those who are coming today, and those who will come each day. May our interaction with them accurately represent Christ, drawing them to repentance and faith, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!